Nils Gabriel Sefström (2 June 1787 – 30 November 1845) was a Swedish chemist. Sefström was a student of Berzelius and, when studying the brittleness of steel in 1830, he rediscovered a new chemical element, to which he gave the name vanadium.[1]
Nils Gabriel Sefström | |
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Born | |
Died | 30 November 1845 | (aged 58)
Nationality | Swedish |
Known for | Rediscovery of vanadium |
Scientific career | |
Doctoral advisor | Jöns Jakob Berzelius |
Vanadium was first discovered by the Spanish-Mexican mineralogist Andrés Manuel del Río in 1801. He named it erythronium. Friedrich Wöhler later confirmed that vanadium and erythronium were the same substance.[2]
Sefström was member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1815.
The Spitzbergen glacier Sefströmbreen,[3] and the mountain ridge of Sefströmkammen, are named after him.[4]
References
edit- ^ N. G. Sefström (1831). "Ueber das Vanadin, ein neues Metall, gefunden im Stangeneisen von Eckersholm, einer Eisenhütte, die ihr Erz von Taberg in Småland bezieht". Annalen der Physik und Chemie. 97 (1): 43–49. Bibcode:1831AnP....97...43S. doi:10.1002/andp.18310970103.
- ^ Pedro Cintas (2004). "The Road to Chemical Names and Eponyms: Discovery, Priority, and Credit". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 43 (44): 5888–5894. doi:10.1002/anie.200330074. PMID 15376297.
- ^ "Sefströmbreen (Svalbard)". Norwegian Polar Institute. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
- ^ "Sefströmkammen (Svalbard)". Norwegian Polar Institute. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
Further reading
edit- Sjoberg, Sven Gosta (1951). "Nils Gabriel Sefstrom and the Discovery of Vanadium". Journal of Chemical Education. 28 (6): 294–296. Bibcode:1951JChEd..28..294S. doi:10.1021/ed028p294. [dead link] - subscription required
- Weeks, Mary Elvira (1932). "The Discovery of the Elements: VII. Columbium, Tantalum, and Vanadium". Journal of Chemical Education. 9 (5): 863–884. Bibcode:1932JChEd...9..863W. doi:10.1021/ed009p863. [dead link] - subscription required
- Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon: Sefström, Nils Gabriel - in Swedish